The Forgotten Adoption Option Podcast

Meet adoptive mom of a sibling pair - Kara.  You'll learn about how she handled the adventure and uncertainties of the foster care system.

Meet Ryan Hanlon the President & CEO for the National Council For Adoption. Dive deeper into the research report Ryan discusses: adoptioncouncil.org/profiles Need continuing education as an adoption professional, consider the NCFA Conference - adoptioncouncil.org/ncfa-conference.

Meet Thea Ramirez, the founder and Amy Simpson, the director of programs for Adoption-Share.

Meet Adam Gunn the co-founder of Seventh Avenue Creative and the incredibly talented illustrator of my new children's book Mallory Cheatham.

Rob experienced the foster care system as a child and then, as an adult, started a nonprofit called Comfort Cases which assembles care packs for children in foster care.  To date, his organization has impacted over 185,000 children in the foster care system. Rob has adopted 5 children through the foster care system and is the author of his memoir called A Forever Family: Fostering One Child at a T...

Meet Chef Kibby - biological, foster, and adoptive dad. During the pandemic he pivoted from a catering business to helping foster and adoptive parents connect with their children through the shared act of cooking and eating together.

Meet Shari Shink, child welfare advocate. She spent 33 years as a lawyer, founded the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center (the first non-profit law firm for abused and neglected children), and most recently, founded Cobbled Streets, a nonprofit that goes 'upstream' to serve younger foster children, promoting their health, growth, and development and preventing them from emancipating from the fost...

Meet Ancil Lea, adoptive dad & business owner, who peaked the hearts of almost 8 million adults through a simple LinkedIn post.

Meet Joy Gilraine, adoptive mom and parenting coach. In this episode, Joy shares practical ways for current and prospective adoptive families to own their foster care adoption fears and explore them without judgement. 

Rita Soronen, President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, returns to share about the rewards and impact of being an Adoption-Friendly Workplace.

Matthew Straeb co-founded the Heart Gallery of America. In this episode you'll learn HOW to see professional photographs and bios of children waiting to be adopted through foster care so that you can consider adopting these children and also share this resource with those you know who are interested in adoption. 

Meet Liz Brooks Wilburn, Co-Director of Foster Parent College. Noticing the need for convenient high-quality training, Northwest Media Inc. created FosterParentCollege.com to provide online, on-demand, engaging training for current and future foster parents.

Lynn Stacy shares how she knew she was ready to adopt and what social service agencies are looking for in adoptive families.

Denise Goodman has cracked the code on recruiting foster and adoptive parents. Are you a future adoptive parent? Find out how to know.

Jennifer Jacobs & Jessica Stern developed a software platform that uses "family mapping" technology to find forever families for waiting children. Is your data up-to-date and in the right places? Get the scoop on how online data is used to map a child's family and friend tree and could lead to them finding a permanent family.  Learn more about the tools Jennifer and Jessica are building to help ch...

Travis and Anna adopted a daughter through foster care and then had biological children.

Sandra is the author of Orphans No More, co-founder and president of Justice for Orphans, and mom of 8 total children, 5 of which are adopted.  Dive deeper into fetal alcohol spectrum disorder using Sandra's resources at: www.justicefororphansny.org/new-resources.

Ben and Emily are in the process of getting licensed to adopt through foster care! Get a peek into what the process is like.

My husband and I answer your questions about the foster care adoption process from readers of my book The Forgotten Adoption Option and The Forgotten Adoption Option Community on Facebook.

My husband and I provided respite care for Tanya's boys who she ended up adopting.

Melody speaks of her personal journey navigating life from the inside of foster care. She was in foster care for 8 years but never adopted.

Mary was adopted through foster care as an infant.

Dalton shares his personal story about being in foster care and then adopted.

Pam and her husband raised 5 biological children and then adopted a sibling group of 7 additional children.

CJ is the author of "Obliterating the Odds". She was in foster care and was never adopted although she lived in 35 homes before age 17. Listen to hear her journey of going from tragedy to triumph.